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Pheasant Pie

A savory pie filled with pheasant and a forcemeat mixture of veal, bacon, ham, and suet.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,232 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Pheasant Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the forcemeat

  1. Mince veal, fat bacon, bread crumbs, beef suet, and lean ham and place them in a bowl.

  2. Season with pepper, coarse sea salt, and grated nutmeg, then bind with egg yolk.

  3. Optionally, add chopped mushrooms for flavor.

Prepare the pheasant

  1. Pluck and clean a well-hung pheasant, then cut it in half lengthwise and bone it.

  2. Fry the pheasant halves in hot fat until lightly browned, then drain.

  3. Stuff half the forcemeat into the pheasant halves and place them back together.

Assemble and bake

  1. Line a pie dish with slices of fat bacon and spread half of the remaining forcemeat on top.

  2. Add the stuffed pheasant, top with the rest of the forcemeat, and cover with a slice of fat bacon.

  3. Cover with a lid, make a hole in the center, and bake at 400°F (200°C). If the pie risks burning, cover it with paper.

  4. Check doneness by inserting a trussing needle through the hole; it should penetrate easily. If preferred, bake in a dish and joint the pheasant before adding.

  5. After 30 minutes out of the oven, pour in ¼ pint of strong gravy through the hole.

  6. Bake for about 2 hours or until done.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Bread + hamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  4. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Bread + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Veal
Gives the forcemeat a firm, meaty body that holds its shape when sliced.
Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the forcemeat moist and rich as it cooks.
Bread crumbs
Absorb fat and juices, helping the forcemeat hold together and stay tender.
Egg yolk
Binds the forcemeat so it sets firm rather than crumbling when cooked.
Strong gravy made from liver
Adds savory moisture and depth to the pie after it has baked.

The step that matters

Checking doneness through the hole. The pie is large and dense, so the centre can stay underdone while the crust browns. A trussing needle that slides in easily shows the heat has reached the middle, and covering the pie with paper prevents the crust from burning during the long bake.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, bread, beef, ham, pepper, egg, mushroom):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, bread, beef, ham, pepper, egg, mushroom. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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